In support of the Cook Islands

Forest and Bird, Issue 280, 1 May 1996, Page 2

In support of the Cook Islands

Dr

Dialogue Consultants Ltd (abridged)

Cambridge, UK (abridged)

Peter Phillips

David Gordon

Bashing the Cook Islands may be fashionable at present, but I was disappointed to see Forest & Bird publish an article by Jacqui Barrington (February) which is plagued by inaccuracies, misrepresentation, and unsubstantiated anecdote. While terms like "shredding the country’s fragile ecosystem" may make exciting copy, the reality according to Gerald McCormack, Director of the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Project, is that "the environment of the Cook Islands is in a remarkably good state compared to that of neighbouring tropical island countries". Clearly, while there are some matters of concern in the Cook Islands, including the degradation of the Aitutaki corals, the sensationalism of Ms Barrington’s article is unwarranted. One of the unfortunate aspects of the article is that it presents a rather distorted view of New Zealand Official Development Assistance (NZODA) in the Cook Islands. In practice, NZODA specifically supports a range of environment/conservation projects in the Cooks, and has done so since the early 1980s. Some of the deficiencies of the article include: » there is no proposal from the tourism industry for a crossisland road so it is somewhat difficult for Gerald McCormack to be opposing it. » there are various reasons for — a reduction in the length of stay, including the increase in multi-destination holidays. There is no evidence of large numbers of "disenchanted

visitors" departing early; the notion that "corals outside the reef are mostly grey and lifeless", on Aitutaki is an unwarranted distortion. The Aitutaki reef is over 40 km long. There are indeed some areas which have been very badly affected by bleaching and Crown of Thorns. But to generalise this to the whole reef is simply wrong. This sort of article does no good for the Cook Islands, the New Zealand Official Development Assistance programme, Forest and Bird, or the magazine.

I must take issue with Jacqui Barrington over her article on the Cook Islands (February). I have visited the Cook Islands several times since 1985 and have felt privileged to be able to visit a group of islands with an environment in so much better shape than many other nations. It so happened that I read her article just 24 hours before leaving New Zealand for a further visit to the Cook Islands on my way back to the UK. The Cooks had not changed since my last visit and remain one of the most beautiful places that I have visited. The pristine forests of Rarotonga contain a profusion of beautiful endemic plants and ferns while the lagoons teem with colourful tropical fish. As Jacqui correctly reports, the lovely kakerori is increasing in numbers while, contrary to her comments, the kuramo’o thrives in the modified vegetation of Aitutaki and is in no need of a reserve. Most of the problems that Jacqui mentions — overfishing, introduced predators, fertiliser run off, waste disposal — are of course real problems and

problems that require the political will to resolve. But she somehow suggests that these problems are unique to the Cooks. In truth these problems are shared by all countries and it is the world that is under siege, not the Cooks. If we have not resolved these problems in the UK and New Zealand it seems somewhat unrealistic to expect the Cook Islands to lead the way. One way to help is through tourism. "Runaway tourism" is hardly an accurate description of a tourist industry of around 1,000 visitors a week and one that is in decline. So come on Forest and Bird, how about some practical help for conservation in the Cook Islands? No, the paradise is not lost and making sure that it is not lost in the future merits the greatest conservation effort.

Jacqui Barrington responds: When I returned to the Cooks for a holiday I had wonderful memories of Rarotonga, and hoped Aitutaki would be even better. Unfortunately I found the islands in uproar with local tourism operators genuinely worried over the environmental future of the Cooks and their businesses. I interviewed Gerald McCormack, as well as dive and tour operators, hotel, guest house and restaurant owners, and conservation service staff, both local and expatriate. Some wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Dive operator Neil Mitchell says he is happy to be identified as one of those most concerned over the death of the Aitutaki lagoon. I found their concerns substantiated in: » "The Cook Islands National Environment Management

Strategy" — South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme, 1993, and » "The Cook Islands Tourism Master Plan" — RPT Economic Studies Group UK, 1991. The delay between writing and publishing may have led to some points being out of date eg. the decline in tourist numbers from an approximate high of 60,000 two years ago. However the grandiose projections of 100,000 given by the Prime Minister in 1994 still stand. The tourist "density" (number of arrivals related to number of inhabitants) of the Cooks remains one of the highest in the world. At no point did I attempt to make a comparison of the Cooks’ environmental health with that of other Pacific Island states, which may well be worse. I did, however, acknowledge at the outset that the problems damaging the islands were those of the developed world at large, made more acute by the Cooks’ small size. Nor, for space reasons, did I aim to give more than a passing mention to New Zealand ODA. As far as the health of the Aitutaki corals is concerned, Neil Mitchell told me in 1994 that no recovery was in evidence and that he had to travel further afield each time to find good dive spots. To accuse Forest and Bird of damaging tourism to the Cooks, when tourism as it is currently practised there is part of the problem, is to entirely miss the point. I hope that one positive outcome of the present trouble might be a rethink of how to tailor economic growth along more environmentally — and socially — sustainable lines.